


happy birthday, kaede.

by reodayou



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Omniscient, Really fluffy, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Male Character, Trans Saihara Shuichi, birthday fic, its not mentioned but let it be said he trans, yeah they cute keep scrolling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reodayou/pseuds/reodayou
Summary: kaede's birthdays throughout the years.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	happy birthday, kaede.

**Author's Note:**

> hey folks! thanks for reading and don't forget to kudos/comment!!

_ aged: zero _

bright fluorescent lights swept the hospital room. a blonde woman sat curled up in the bed, a small bundle held in her arm. a man sat at the bedside, hand on his wife’s arm.

“she’s beautiful,” he whispers, peering at the bundle in his wife’s arms. the baby girl looks up at her parents with wide, grey eyes, and gives the two a toothless smile.

“you’re fine with what i’ve named her, right?” the woman asks, looking up into the man’s eyes.

“of course, rina,” he assured her.

a nurse walked into the room, causing rina to jump in her place. “ah, sorry… you scared me,” she gave a laugh.

“mr. akamatsu,” the nurse handed a clipboard to the man, “here’s the paperwork with her birth certificate forms. please make sure to fill these out before leaving the hospital; it’s important.” she then left the room, leaving rina and her husband in silence, marveling in the beauty of their newborn daughter.

“is everything alright?” the man asked, witnessing a tear fall from his wife’s eye.

“i just can’t believe how perfect she is, taruno,” rina sighed.

“kaede, we love you.”

_ aged: two _

the toddler waddled throughout the room, weaving through guests as they sat around, talking over wine and cucumber sandwiches. she was bubbly as always, running around her family’s living room. 

“she’s getting big,” a family friend commented to rina, sipping from her glass.

“it’s hard to believe she’s already two!” another laughed into his hand.

“yeah, it’s incredible,” rina gazed upon her daughter. her grey eyes had grown to be more lavender in colour, and her hair was a bright blonde, just like her mother.

“kaede, honey, it’s time for cake!” kaede perked up at the sound of cake and allowed her father to pick her up and carry her to the dining room table, where a small vanilla cake was sitting, waiting for her to blow its candles out.

of course, she was too young to be able to blow the candles out, so after the customary singing of ‘happy birthday’, kaede and her father blew the candles out together.

“presents?” kaede looked up into her father’s eyes. “presents now?”

“yes, bunny, presents now,” taruno laughed and set his daughter down on the living room rug, next to her aunt aiko.

the toddler gazed out onto the sea of presents sat in front of her; some big, some small, but presents all the same. there seemed to be one box in particular, a quite large one in fact, that was calling her name. she waddled to it, excited to rip off the paper and see what was waiting for her.

“no, kaede, save that one for last,” her father redirected her towards some other, smaller boxes.

kaede began ripping paper off as fast as she could, though she did need some help from her parents at times. before they knew it, a mountain of wrapping paper had piled up.

finally, the second-to-last present (a sweater with cherry blossoms embroidered along the hem) had been opened, and kaede was ready for her big surprise.

“i’m gonna open this one for you, bunny,” taruno instructed his daughter. “close your eyes!”   
  
she obliged, though she did peek a little bit as her dad opened the present.

“alright, and… open!” taruno exclaimed.

kaede gasped. it was a toy piano, perfectly her size!

“now you can play your own piano,” rina gave a smile.

“like mommy?” kaede looked up at her mother, a grin on her little face.

“like mommy,” rina nodded.

_ aged: seven _

“happy birthday, kaede!”

the cheer rang out through the kitchen when the young girl walked in. she was taken aback, naturally, as she had just come home from piano lessons with sensei teruya.

“um, what’s this?” she asked her mother, standing at the kitchen table.

“it’s your birthday, silly!” rina gave her daughter a smile, taking the girl by the shoulders and seating her in front of a large vanilla cake.

“mama, you didn’t have to do this—” kaede insisted, blushing. she still clutched her piano music in her arms. 

“of course i did, my little maple leaf, you deserve it,” rina kissed her daughter’s forehead. “now blow out the candles, will you?”

the group sang happy birthday and kaede obliged to her mother’s wishes, blowing all eight (one for good luck) candles on the cake before her father sliced it, distributing the pieces.

after the cake was all cleaned up, kaede’s fingers drummed on the table. the guests had left, and it was only kaede, her father, and her mother.

“so, bunny,” kaede’s father looked her in the eyes, “we could only afford to get you one gift this year. i hope you’re not angry with us, we did our best and we hope you love it.”

“whatever it is, i’m sure i’ll love it papa,” kaede gave her father a warm smile.

“only a second grader and you’re already so mature,” taruno took his daughter’s face in his hands and rubbed his nose against her affectionately. “so, bunny, would you like to know what it is?”

“of course, papa!” kaede allowed her father to lead her, eyes closed, into the living room.

“you can open.”

a sight like no other was laid upon the small girl’s eyes.

in her living room sat a real, live grand piano.

a tear escaped kaede’s eye. “you— papa, mama, you didn’t!” she cried, latching onto both of her parents.

“oh, but we did,” rina took her daughter’s hug, holding onto the girl.

“you’ve had that toy up in your room since you were a toddler. we figured it was time for a change of pace,” taruno whispered.

“thank you so much,” kaede whispered, burying her face into her mother’s side. “it’s wonderful. i can’t wait to play it.”

“and we can’t wait to hear it.”

_ aged: eleven _

“kaede, sweetie, why don’t you come downstairs? i made your favourite birthday breakfast!” rina stood in the doorway to her daughter’s bedroom.

kaede’s fingers danced across the keys fervently, her eye concentrated on the music in front of her. “sorry mom, but i’m kind of busy. plus i’m not really hungry.”

“oh, maple leaf, you have to eat sometime,” rine moved and sat on the piano’s bench next to her daughter. upon closer inspection, she saw that her daughter was pale, shaking, with red knuckles and bags under her eyes.

frowning, rina placed a hand on her daughter’s, forcing her to take a pause and look into her mother’s eyes. “kaede, i love you, but please take a break. look at you, you’re shaking. did you not sleep last night?”

the girl looked away, seemingly ashamed. “i— i forgot. i’m sorry, i promise i’ll sleep tonight, i just got so focused on this one song, it’s really difficult and i can’t find out how to do this one chord progression without messing up—”

“shh, shh, honey, breathe. it’s alright. you can take a break for now, it’s alright. now why don’t you come downstairs and have breakfast with your father and i? i made your favourite: american pancakes with sprinkles and chocolate chips, with lots of syrup!” rina winked.

“oh, alright,” kaede rolled her eyes, pushing back the bench and walking downstairs with her mother. 

after finishing her breakfast, kaede sat back in her chair and drummed her fingers on the table. a single small box sat in front of her and she was tempted to open it. eyeing her mother, kaede reached for it.

“go ahead,” rina replied, whom kaede did not realize was watching her. kaede quickly ripped back the wrapping paper to reveal the logo for a well-known jewelry shop in town. once the paper was gone, kaede opened the box to find small music-note shaped hairclips inside; three individual quarter notes, one set of sixteenth notes and one singular eighth note. the clips were made of a shiny metal and glowed when the light hit them properly.

“i—” the girl was at a loss for words. “they’re so pretty— i can’t believe it— thank you so much, mom!” she enveloped her mother in a large hug before fastening the clips into her bangs. “i don’t want to ever take them out.”

_ aged: fourteen _

kaede’s fingers danced across the keys, carrying the tune she loved so much across the room, out through the window, and out to the street below. she poured her heart, every ounce of energy, into the song, making sure it was perfect. she wasn’t even aware that somebody had walked in until they spoke.

“beautiful,” shuichi breathed, sitting down on his best friend’s bed.

“sh-shuichi!” kaede stammered, stopping abruptly and turning to face the boy. “what are you doing here?”   
  


“i thought i texted you this already…” the boy answered, “we’re meeting up with taro and going to get some boba, right? you still up to that?”

“yeah, sure, but like, did you have to come in my room to tell me that?” kaede’s face was red.

“i didn’t have to, so to speak, but i did. your mom let me in,” he answered hurriedly, “just in case you thought i like climbed in the window or something. so uh, what song was that?”   
  


“‘clair de lune’, by debussy. it’s one of my favourites,” kaede gave a grin.

“i can tell why,” shuichi nodded, “it sounds so amazing when you play it.”

“that’s… kind of what i’m going for,” kaede laughed. “well, boba, right?”

“yeah, boba,” shuichi blushed. the two left accordingly, off to their little adventure.

_ aged: seventeen _

the sounds of kaede’s music filled the room. it was just her and shuichi now, rantaro had moved away, continuing his search for his sisters. 

the two sat in the room, side by side on the piano bench. kaede was playing, while shuichi watched her fingers go back and forth, slowly at first but slowly gaining speed as she continued the song.

as it finished, shuichi looked up at kaede with amazement. “that was… beautiful,” he gave her a small smile, looking deep into her lavender eyes.

“you said that the first time you ever heard me play that song,” kaede giggled.

“i did?” shuichi laughed. “wasn’t that when we were, like, fourteen?”

“yeah,” kaede blushed. “i remember that day so well.”

“why? i mean, i don’t think it’s that special,” shuichi laughed, looking away. his face was bright red.

“because it was the day i truly fell in love with you.” kaede whispered.

shuichi brought himself to look into her eyes. those beautiful lavender eyes he loved so much. before he knew it, he was leaning in for a kiss. 

it lasted longer than either of them expected. probably twenty, maybe even thirty seconds. their eyes were comfortably shut, their lips touching. their tongues didn’t dare move in fear of ruining the kiss. 

shuichi’s lips tasted of sunshine, of love, of wisdom and curiosity and wonder. (and a little bit of cherries.) they were softer than a baby’s cheek, softer than a lamb in a meadow, softer than anything on this godly earth. kaede couldn’t stand how good it felt to kiss this boy, this boy that she had loved for upwards of four years. 

eventually, they pulled away from each other, staring into the other’s eyes.

“i love you too,” shuichi breathed before they went into another kiss. 

kaede tasted of spring. of creativity and freedom and something shuichi couldn’t quite name. they were soft with a hint of something more. shuichi loved it, and this kiss laster for so much longer than he could have asked for. it was everything he wanted in a kiss.

kaede pulled away to breathe, panting slightly.

“you’re a good kisser,” she commented, leaning her head on shuichi’s shoulder. “i think this has been the best birthday yet.”

“well, then, happy birthday, kaede.”

**Author's Note:**

> aaaa this was so fun to write!! i meant to post this on her actual birthday but i took too long oops,,, anyway hope u enjoyed!! bye!!


End file.
